International Law

Information access a whole -of - government change management challenge

Posted on August 13, 2009
Those thinking about, interested, or involved in change associated with access to government information - now a broad church across the country - will find much of value in the report "Information Policy and E-Governance in the Australian Government"( pdf 185kb) by Dr Ian Reinecke for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet...

Conclusive certificates going, going almost gone

Posted on August 13, 2009
The Senate passed the Freedom of Information (Removal of Conclusive Certificates and Other Measures) Bill yesterday, without amendment, so only the House of Representatives to go and that will be routine business.Senator Ludlam (Australian Greens-WA) moved several amendments but only the Greens and Senator Xenophon supported them, the Opposition siding with the Government...

Auditor General to shine some light on Parliament opacity

Posted on August 12, 2009
Steve Lewis and Ben Pakham in this exclusive "MPs rorting millions in taxpayer-funded entitlements" in yesterday's Herald-Sun reported that a yet to be released Australian National Audit Office report has found widespread abuse of the printing allowance paid to members and senators, with the entitlement, contrary to guidelines, "being used for the main or only purpose of electioneering activities"...

NSW local councils still in the maze

Posted on August 11, 2009
Local councils in NSW will from the commencement of the Government Information (Public Access) Act, early in 2010, be freed from some of the complexity associated with access to information issues, as Section 12 of the Local Government Act is to be rescinded, a different publishing requirement, a modified version of Section 12 (1), will be imposed under the new legislation, and applications for other information are to be dealt with in accordance with GIPA...

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Victory for Liberal Party

Posted on August 10, 2009
Seriously. But the main point of interest in reporting a partial win for the party in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on a Freedom of Information matter concerns legal professional privilege, and a ruling that the exemption in Section 42 of the Commonwealth Act did not apply to one of two documents in dispute because privilege had been waived by actions of the agency...

Queensland parliament rains on open access party

Posted on August 09, 2009
Amid all that good Queensland news is this downer that the Clerk of the Parliament there has knocked back a request by Open Australia to allow republication of Hansard online which would enable them to add the search capabilities that have made their Federal effort a real winner...

Queensland Information Commissioner

Posted on August 07, 2009
Still on matters Queensland, Julie Kinross who was appointed Information Commissioner last week has been acting in the job since April last year. Kinross has had 20 years public service experience, including Assistant Commissioner Health Care Complaints Commission, Commissioner for Fair Trading and Deputy Director-General, Department of Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development...

FOI reforms the real thing, even to Michael McKinnon

Posted on August 07, 2009
After two days at different conferences in Canberra where Freedom of Information was a lively topic, a few reflections.David Solomon and Michael McKinnon in addressing the National Administrative Law Forum on the topic "FOI reform or political window dressing?" both agreed its serious and far beyond window dressing thus far in all the jurisdictions that are on the move...

Treasury's public management practices

Posted on August 05, 2009
The Grech affair isn't over by any means, and continues to throw up a wide range of issues, with plenty of uncertainty still surrounding the future of key players. Of course at the heart of this when it all started was whether the Prime Minister and/or the Treasurer had arranged for special treatment for a mate...

Canberra

Posted on August 04, 2009
I'm in Canberra at conferences on Wednesday and Thursday this week, so probably not much new here until Friday.

SA bridges safe-from disclosure that is.

Posted on August 02, 2009
Outback SA bridge- bluegumpictures.com.auSouth Australian Ombudsman Richard Bingham, after investigating a complaint concerning a decision by the Department of Transport to refuse a Freedom of Information application for information about the state of SA bridges, said the claim that disclosure might assist terrorists and endanger lives showed an interpretation of the FOI law that was "irrational, absurd and ridiculous"...

Einfeld FOI documents reveal familiar pattern

Posted on August 02, 2009
smh.com.auFormer Justice Marcus Einfeld didn't argue in court recently against the motion he was not a fit and proper person and that he should be struck off the Roll of Barristers. But he had tried unsuccessfully in Freedom of Information Administrative Appeals Tribunal proceedings he had initiated, to prevent disclosure of correspondence, now 20 years old, between him as President of the Human Rights Commission and then Attorney General Lionel Bowen about travel and expenses for him and his former wife...

ALP back in town, quiet time expected

Posted on July 30, 2009
National Library of AustraliaThe Australian Labor Party National Conference - the first since the election of the Rudd Government in 2007 - gets underway in Sydney today.It's expected to be a sedate affair, as is the way of these things when the party is in office...

E-health big picture thinking-action to follow?

Posted on July 29, 2009
The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission Report on the future of the health system was released earlier in the week. The discussion of e-health is in Chapter 5 of the Report.Generally positive reactions to the reform proposals overall, and although the Government has some runs on the board and plans to continue to move ahead on a number of fronts, disappointment about what is seen as more talk, not enough action on another big high priority...

Government 2.0 Issues Paper raises familiar and new questions

Posted on July 28, 2009
The Government 2.0 Taskforce Issues Paper raises many important matters concerning transparency and open government including several questions familiar to readers here:How can we build a culture within government which favours the disclosure of public sector information? What government information should be more freely available and what might be made of it? What are the major obstacles to fostering a culture of online engagement within government and how can they be tackled?I'm sure the chair Nicholas Gruen and member David Solomon and their colleagues don't need reminding that the Freedom of Information history and experiences of the last thirty years, and the reams that have been written about why the law has fallen short of delivering its great promise can provide plenty of insights into the first and last questions...

Australian Parliament among weakest in the world

Posted on July 27, 2009
The long-time Clerk of the Senate Harry Evans, on the verge of retirement, reflected on the operation of our institution of representative democracy in Canberra on Friday in this address Time, Chance and Parliament Lessons from Forty Years.The mainstream media doesn't find it interesting, with the Canberra Times the only paper reporting the speech...

Legal hands on deck for NSW open government "revolution"

Posted on July 27, 2009
Matthew Moore in the Sydney Morning Herald calls on the NSW Premier to take back responsibility for the new Government Information (Public Access) Act from the Attorney General to ensure the backing from the top that will be necessary if culture change on transparency is to go anywhere in the state...

Lobbyists and anti-corruption in the news

Posted on July 26, 2009
As The Australian Public Sector Ati-Corruption Conference opens in Brisbane, influence peddlers are under the spotlight in Queensland also following the Nuttall case, with the Premier looking for ways to ban or ensure public disclosure of success fees and this call for further lobbying reforms...

Public servants play a key role in determining public interest

Posted on July 23, 2009
I like Andrew Podger's well stated wisdom in Public servants serve the public interest,period for Crikey: "What (Shergold and Moran) advocates of confidentiality and allowing the political process to determine the public interest leave out is the direct responsibility of public servants to act in the public interest in the implementation of policies and in due process more generally, including with regard to the provision of information to the public...

NSW steps backwards as others step forward

Posted on July 23, 2009
Matthew Moore in the Sydney Morning Herald picks up the point that the shift of responsibilities to the Attorney General for the implementation of the new NSW access to government information act is a change from 20 years of practice in the state where the Premier has been the minister with authority concerning the Freedom of Information Act...

Conference circuit hits Canberra

Posted on July 23, 2009
Two conferences, fortuitously or otherwise on successive days in Canberra, worth consideration.Public Affairs in the Nation's Capital, the annual Walkley Foundation gig examining media issues affecting the public sector, will include two sessions titled "Breaking down barriers: Freedom of Information and disclosure...

Hat tip to Defence

Posted on July 22, 2009
Further to the comment last week that a real sign of change in the transparency equation would be a shift in attitude in Defence and Treasury, hat tip to Air Chief Marshall Houston for this announcement yesterday "..when a civilian casualty incident is confirmed or when a credible allegation is substantiated, Defence will issue a public statement...

Transparency for parliament needs consideration

Posted on July 22, 2009
Good on Labor Member for Franklin in the Tasmanian Parliament Daniel Hulme for raising for consideration whether the state's Freedom of Information Act now under review should be extended to cover the parliament itself. Of course it should in Tassie and elsewhere, despite the fact that most parliamentarians seem to show no interest...

Record-keeping weaknesses limit accountability

Posted on July 21, 2009
The reference in the post yesterday to former PM&C Secretary Dr Peter Shergold alluding to the fact that the prospect of disclosure would lead to advice to ministers not being given in written form highlights a shortcoming in the legislative framework within which the Australian Public Service operates: the absence of a general legal obligation to ensure that full and accurate records are created in the conduct of government activities, and to document and retain records of decisions...

Lawyers back in the driving seat on access to information in NSW

Posted on July 21, 2009
The new face of government in NSW on access to information-Attorney General John Hatzistergos.The NSW Government, having done well with generally good reforms in the yet to commence Government Information (Public Access) Act has now dampened hopes ( well at least mine) by giving the Attorney General responsibility for this and related acts...

That culture change challenge

Posted on July 20, 2009
Crikey today gives prominence to a speech last week by Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet Terry Moran in which he endorsed remarks by his predecessor Dr Peter Shergold about the role of the public service concerning policy advice "The public service, Dr Shergold said, provides ministers, that is the executive government, with frank, fearless and robust policy advice???and it does so in a confidential manner...

Only a glimpse of Victorian food hygiene standards

Posted on July 19, 2009
Mark Russell in The Sunday Age reports "The veil of secrecy protecting Melbourne's restaurants and cafes caught dishing up contaminated food will be lifted next year. The State Government expects a "name and shame" food hygiene website to be up and running by July 1...

Premature call on the death of secrecy?

Posted on July 17, 2009
Bernard Keane in Crikey today hails the release of a "truckload of documents" by the Department of Immigration for providing a glimpse of the yet to be legislated new era of open government in Canberra. The Department deserves congratulations for "getting with it" but I'd hold judgment for a moment or two about how widely the message has travelled, and how it has been received...

E-health on the move, with lively privacy debate to follow.

Posted on July 15, 2009
www.dietclipart.com. Not Federal Health Minister Nicola RoxonOur wonderful system of federation adds a layer of complexity to an already complex problem when it comes to getting the balance right between access to health information, now in digital form, for those that need it for efficient and effective service to those in need, and the appropriate protection of privacy of the individual concerned...

Information Commissioner challenges

Posted on July 15, 2009
As NSW goes about setting up the Office of Information Commissioner and finding someone to fill the job, the Acting Information Commissioner in Queensland comes to grips with new legislative responsibilities, the new West Australian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemell settles in, and the Federal Government continues to mull over legislation to establish its Office of Information Commissioner, a timely reminder from the UK that more than good intentions are needed to make this kind of set up work:"Long delays by the Information Commissioner?s Office (ICO) in investigating freedom of information complaints are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act, according to a new report by the Campaign for Freedom of Information...

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